Leg 3, Day 11/15 – Cruisin’

So, I may have got the hang of the rowing bit, but not so much the working of the iridium go (the technology that sends you the blog). My apologies for the lack of day 11’s blog! Here’s a double blog to make up for it!

We continue to roll with and through the waves edging ever closer to cairns, and as my tan deepens and I begin to look less like a non rower, who has been kidnapped by 3 pro’s and their pink boat, I am now physically a part of the rowing squad! Having previously lived the row through the blogs and watching the pink dot in anticipation for my turn on the oars, I almost feel as if I have stepped into a fictional novel. But all I know, is at this current moment, I feel as if I am meant to be here in this place right now, and couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.

My Aunty Jane always used to tell us to respect the Ocean when my family and I were water-skiing, and I never fully understood what she meant until now. The way that the ocean moves is absolutely mesmerising and I often find myself staring, day dreaming into the waves. Lying in the stern of the aft cabin where I sit writing this blog, the power of the ocean is felt and can only be likened to lying on a trampoline when someone else is bouncing. Today (day 15) finds Doris cruisin through anything up to 40 foot waves in high winds of 21 – 24 knots! But the sun is shining and without too much rowing effort we have been pushing 3.5 knots and surfing the waves, all in the right direction!

Whilst looking out onto these big mumma waves it has made me think; how often in the modern world do we get the opportunity to completely switch off and remove ourselves? How often do we have the time to whole heartedly listen to someone’s whole life story without having to rush off, and how often do we give ourselves time to listen to our thoughts and tune in? No matter where we go it seems that wifi is readily available and phone signal is unaffected. But out here in the Pacific we have time, lots of it, and engaging with each other and also mindfully taking in where we all are is brilliant. If there’s one thing that I have realised that I will take from the row so far, it’s that it feels great to have the ability to disconnect yourself every so often and take time for your own thoughts and then being brought back to reality with a big splash!

Don’t get me wrong though, turning on the iridium go to download our emails are the highlight of our day! Please keep emailing us at doris@coxlesscrew.com

Update: The war of the salt spray versus the angry bums rages on and in the past 24 hours salt spray is winning! The cabin is 40 degrees Celsius and we can’t open the doors because the waves are too big. However it does mean that we are doing some serious surfing and there are a lot of ‘woahhhhh’ and ‘woohooo’ sounds depending on what wave touches Doris. All in all though, listening to loud music on the speakers and surfing is freaking awesome!

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6 Comments

Great blog Meg. You have definitely arrived. Your blog was uplifting. Another great 24 hours of progress of 50+. Your topic of, detachment was discussed a few months ago, I can’t remember who said it now but I latched on to it at the time. Very rarely are we afforded the time and space to explore our own souls. I have only ever found that space while running, which due to my abilities, was limited to a couple of hours, max, and nowadays due to crock knees just doesn’t happen. You have a huge amount of time to daydream and evaluate your thoughts and emotions, and those of your friends, I envy that, but I don’t envy the constant soakings or two hour shifts! 😉 Your comment about, feeling you are in the right place and “meant to be there”, is also something that has been said before, which is nice, because you are all going through or have experienced the same emotions . You are now officially a member and importantly final member of my heroes of 2015. Stay safe. XX

When I was in the Cubs I learnt to gauge the height of a tree by imagining where the top would be if it was felled, and then pacing the distance from the trunk. Not so easy with a wave! If it helps, a London bus is 14′ 4″ and 3 buses would be approx 40′.

WOWZAS!!!! 63 miles, this is incredible and you are doing so amazingly well 🙂 I keep looking at the numbers and thinking wow but also thinking surely they can’t keep this up all the way, and everyday you cease to amaze me that you are! So incredibly proud of you all 🙂